ss of his efforts in this direction, speculated
in city loan. He became known to Mollenhauer and Simpson, by reputation,
if not personally, as the man who was carrying this city loan
proposition to a successful issue. Stener was supposed to have done
a clever thing in finding him. The stock exchange stipulated that all
trades were to be compared the same day and settled before the close of
the next; but this working arrangement with the new city treasurer gave
Cowperwood much more latitude, and now he had always until the first of
the month, or practically thirty days at times, in which to render an
accounting for all deals connected with the loan issue.

And, moreover, this was really not an accounting in the sense of
removing anything from his hands. Since the issue was to be so large,
the sum at his disposal would always be large, and so-called transfers
and balancing at the end of the month would be a mere matter of
bookkeeping. He could use these city loan certificates deposited with
him for manipulative purposes, deposit them at any bank as collateral
for a loan, quite as if they were his own, thus raising seventy per
cent. of their actual value in cash, and he did not hesitate to do so.
He could take this cash, which need not be accounted for until the end
of the month, and cover other stock transactions, on which he could
borrow again. There was no limit to the resources of which he now found
himself possessed, except the resources of his own energy, ingenuity,
and the limits of time in which he had to work. The politicians did not
realize what a bonanza he was making of it all for himself, because they
were as yet unaware of the subtlety of his mind. When Stener told him,
after talking the matter over with the mayor, Strobik, and others that
he would formally, during the course of the year, set over on the city's
books all of the two millions in city loan, Cowperwood was silent--but
with delight. Two millions! His to play with! He had been called in as
a financial adviser, and he had given his advice and it had been taken!
Well. He was not a man who inherently was troubled with conscientious
scruples. At the same time he still believed himself financially honest.
He was no sharper or shrewder than any other financier--certainly no
sharper than any other would be if he could.

It should be noted here that this proposition of Stener's in regard to
city money had no connection with the attitude of the principal le